# Computer Geeks: Can you explain how this happens? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 14, 2007, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-geeks-can-you-explain-how-this-happens/400034 "2007-04-14T00:20:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Valteron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f17d59/32.png) [@Valteron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valteron)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-geeks-can-you-explain-how-this-happens/400034/1 "2007-04-14T00:20:12Z")
A friend just sent me this. Can you explain how the heck something like this could happen to a serious site? Are they trying to be funny? Go to Google Maps and do the following: 1. click on “get directions” 2. type " New York " in the first box (the “from” box) 3. type " London " in the second box (the “to” box) 4. press enter or the search button 5. scroll down to step #23 ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-geeks-can-you-explain-how-this-happens/400034/2 "2007-04-14T00:23:53Z")
😃 Probably just some Google employees having fun. I love web Easter Eggs like this. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-geeks-can-you-explain-how-this-happens/400034/3 "2007-04-14T00:34:32Z")
Those directions suck. You’d be much better off swimming to Southampton and taking the M3 to London. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-geeks-can-you-explain-how-this-happens/400034/4 "2007-04-14T00:34:46Z")
Brought to you by the same people responsible for writing the code for “French Military Victories.” ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-geeks-can-you-explain-how-this-happens/400034/5 "2007-04-14T01:29:17Z")
It works for Boston-Paris too. And Los Angeles-Copenhagen, but not Los Angeles-Sydney. Maybe it works for all trans-Atlantic trips? ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-geeks-can-you-explain-how-this-happens/400034/6 "2007-04-14T01:38:46Z")
New York to Dublin too. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-geeks-can-you-explain-how-this-happens/400034/7 "2007-04-14T01:46:39Z")
[New York to Paris does the same](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=416079) as we were discussing a couple days ago in MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-geeks-can-you-explain-how-this-happens/400034/8 "2007-04-14T02:30:06Z")
[QUOTE=Valteron] Can you explain how the heck something like this could happen to a serious site? Are they trying to be funny? [/QUOTE] It’s not that Google isn’t “serious”, they’re just not as stoic as most other big corporations. They do lots of little “just for fun” things like April Fool’s jokes, logo variations for various holidays and important dates, providing the home page in Klingon, etc. California casual, maybe? Wikipedia, of course, has more about [Google’s easter eggs and hoaxes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google#Easter_eggs_and_April_Fool.27s_Day_jokes). ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-geeks-can-you-explain-how-this-happens/400034/9 "2007-04-14T02:57:45Z")
Google’s never been a ‘serious’ site. They’ve have an “I’m feeling lucky” button since day one. If that bothers you, for Og sake, don’t zoom in on [The Moon](http://moon.google.com/)! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-geeks-can-you-explain-how-this-happens/400034/10 "2007-04-14T02:58:26Z")
They are serious, They’re just anticipating the age of ubiquitous amphibious vehicles. Always ahead of the curve, those folks over at Google… Of course, I think I’d rather drive up through Alaska and swim across the Bering Strait. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-geeks-can-you-explain-how-this-happens/400034/11 "2007-04-14T04:38:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Brought to you by the same people responsible for writing the code for “French Military Victories.” Google had no intervention on that one. That was done by a site called Albino Black Sheep, who created a joke page in the style of Google’s “no results found” page. Then they got a lot of other folks on the Web to link to that joke page using the words “French Military Victories”, and Google’s automated page ranking system took notice. Likewise for other “googlebombs”, such as the one for “Weapons of Mass Destruction” (a similar joke page, saying “The weapons of mass destruction you are looking for cannot be found”, etc.), or the one linking “Miserable Failure” to George W. Bush’s official biography. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-geeks-can-you-explain-how-this-happens/400034/12 "2007-04-14T08:39:37Z")
Ugh, Someone beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-geeks-can-you-explain-how-this-happens/400034/13 "2007-04-14T09:09:10Z")
I live in Washington, Tyne & Wear, UK and wanted directions to Bedford, UK. Plugged in “Washington” and “Bedford” and got similar results but with the addition of a detailed route across the US as far as NY. This was about a week ago, so not April 1st but soon after.